Black Veil
by avenged
Summary: Sasuke severed his bonds long ago...but he'll have to reconnect with his past in order to survive a battle against his greatest enemy: himself. SasuSaku, minor NejiTen and NaruHina. Rated M for later chapters.
1. Severed

**Disclaimer: The day I own Naruto, the sky will turn green and it'll start raining ferrets.**

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Chapter 1

It was raining metal.

Sakura, Shikamaru, and Kakashi watched helplessly from the brush as Sasuke Uchiha fought desperately to achieve his life's goal: the death of his brother, Itachi. Between the flashes of kunai and shuriken, Sakura caught glimpses of Sasuke's sharingan, red with a fury that she could not imagine one human being possessing. Still, Itachi's mangekyou burned brighter, and even though he now stood in the shadow of his younger brother's figure, his skills were in the sunlight. And he would kill Sasuke. Her Sasuke.

_No. I will not think like that. I will not. _

Sasuke had severed his ties. She had to sever hers. And she tried. She tried with all that she had. But apparently that wasn't enough as she felt the thin thread that still existed between her and the raven-haired man tug on her heart.

"He's going to die," she murmured out loud.

"And what do you suggest we do? Run in there blindly? The last thing the village needs is more dead bodies," Shikamaru snapped.

"Shikamaru," Sakura said tensely. "Itachi is our target. Our mission is to destroy him…"

"…and destroy Konoha's top medic-nin, strategist, and jounin in the process? Sakura, we're in a war here. Far too many Konoha shinobi have already fallen. The Akatsuki are bearing down on us…"

"…which is exactly why we should attack one while we have the opportunity," Sakura shot back.

"You call this an opportunity? It's suicide."

"Oh ye of little faith."

Sakura and Shikamaru turned to look at Kakashi, who had been strangely silent throughout the whole argument. "You greatly underestimate yourselves. Itachi may be an S-class criminal, but we have among us, as Shikamaru said, the best Leaf jounins—minus Naruto, that is."

Sakura chuckled inwardly as she thought of Naruto in his new Hokage hat. _Wouldn't Sasuke love to have seen that…_

Her breath caught in her throat as she thought Sasuke's name. _Let him go, Sakura. Let him go._

"Kakashi is right," Sakura said, nodding. "Regardless of Sasuke, we are here to take down Itachi. And I say we do it."

Kakashi smiled. "Right. Shikamaru, what are our options?"

"Option #1: Run away."

Sakura and Kakashi rolled their eyes.

"Option #2: Join the battle now. Possible outcomes include loss of limbs, internal bleeding, and death."

Sakura grimaced. "Anything else?"

"Option #3: Wait. If Sasuke ends up killing Itachi, our job will be done for us. If Itachi ends up killing Sasuke…"

Sakura flinched.

"…then he'll be extremely tired, and we'll have a much better chance of defeating him."

"I like the last one," Kakashi said, nodding sharply. "Sakura, what do you think?"

Sakura took the impulse inside of her that was screaming Sasuke's name and tore it in half.

_There is nothing left of that. Nothing._

"We wait."

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Sasuke grimaced as a shuriken stuck itself in his shoulder. _He's too fast. Even my sharingan can't keep up with him._

Sweat dripped down his forehead. He was reaching his limit, and he was willing to bet that Itachi knew it. As for Itachi's limit…Sasuke wasn't sure he had one. His brother had superhuman strength, speed, and skills. Nothing seemed to faze him; nothing seemed to catch him off guard. Not once during their battle had he stopped to take a breath…not that Sasuke had given him the chance. The younger Uchiha had not taken the four years that he had been away from Konoha in vain. Without the sharingan, his movements would've been impossible to follow. His knowledge of jutsus was almost unparalleled—he could get into or out of anything. The only skill he lacked was the mangekyou sharingan, and the reason it was not in his possession was that he lacked a friend to kill. At one point he could've taken down Naruto, but that bond was long broken.

He smirked. _The one disadvantage of severed bonds, I suppose._

He rapidly formed hand signs.

"Katon: Gokakyu no Justu!"

He saw Itachi's slight smile as the familiar fireball came barreling towards him and felt a terrible impulse to laugh maniacally.

_Time to see my new creation, brother._

"Kunai Rendan!"

Itachi dodged the fire only to be pursued by a barrage of kunai that came spiraling out of it. He swerved left. They followed. He swerved right. They followed again. But Itachi's smile only widened.

"Kuchiyose: Rashomon!"

_No…that's Orochimaru's jutsu…_

The kunai slammed violently into the demon gate, almost disintegrating on impact. Itachi lowered the gate with a simple motion of his hand.

"My sharingan has advanced far beyond yours, ototo-_san_," Itachi said emotionlessly. "Not only can I copy jutsu you use, but I can utilize any jutsu that you've ever _seen_. Your old sensei had a wealth of…interesting techniques. It will be a pleasure to learn more."

"Stay out of my head!" Sasuke shouted, running headlong at his brother, lightning beginning to crackle around his fist.

_If I only use a basic Chidori, then he'll just mirror it. I can't afford to waste that much chakra on an attack that only might work._

Reluctantly, Sasuke tapped into the power of his cursed seal and felt the black marks crawling across his face.

_See Itachi copy this!_

Sasuke's fist was surrounded by a ball of chirping chakra. He smirked as it began to spread over his entire body. The urge was overpowering him…to kill…to kill anything that got in his path…

A little piece of his screamed frantically not to use this jutsu, that it was too much for even him to handle, that he would win at the price of losing himself.

"Shut up," Sasuke sneered out loud. "My power is beyond imagining, and with it, I will accomplish my life's goal."

For the first time during their fight, Itachi's eyes widened as raw energy enveloped Sasuke, surrounding him with the sound not of birds chirping, but of thousands of birds taking flight.

"Habataku Chidori Nagashi!"

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**Yes, I'm evil. ) **

**Neither the Kunai Rendan or the Habataku Chidori Nagashi are actual jutsus, though I wouldn't doubt that Sasuke developed such a jutsu as the latter during his time with Orochimaru.**


	2. Alive

**A/N: I'm going to Chicago for a week, so I won't update again until after I get back. :-( ****But no worries; it'll be a nice, long update. I promise.**

**Thank you to the following people for reviews, favs, and general ego boosting:**

**GaaraandItachi**

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**XlOnELy-cHeRrYXbLoSSoMsX**

**Disclaimer: Naruto is MINE!!! -gets shot by Kishimoto- Maybe not…**

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Chapter 2

Naruto's back itched.

The Rokudaime Hokage put down the mission requests he had been looking over and swiveled his chair around so he faced the window. His eyes gazed out over Konoha, gradually shifting to the east—the direction he had sent Team Kakashi.

He saw nothing unusual, but he knew better.

_Do not ignore the back-itching,_ Naruto told himself. _The back-itching tells all. Well…at least that something's going on that I should be aware of._

"Hokage-sama?"

Naruto recognized the familiar voice of Hyuuga Neji and groaned inwardly, because wherever Neji went…

"Oh, my youthful friend! Have you heard any news of my dear blossom Sakura-chan? I have recently proved my youthful valor in a game of cards against Kiba! Surely she will marry me now! Oh Hokage-sama, tell me of my Sakura-chan!"

…Lee followed.

"Stop shaking me," Naruto grumbled. "I haven't heard anything."

Lee drew back dramatically, his hand pressed to his forehead. "Oh Sakura-chan! You must surely be in need of my youthful strength! Hold on, my darling sugarplum, the green beast is coming to save y…"

Neji pinched a chakra point in Lee's neck, and the youthful wonder hit the ground with a thud.

"Thank you," Naruto said gratefully. "Do you have an update for me?"

"Yes, Hokage-sam—"

"Neji, my name is Naruto, and I've told you a thousand times that you can call me that."

"Sorry, Hokage-sama."

Naruto sighed. While the tall, stoic Hyuuga had grown on him over the years, his obsession with formalities still annoyed the Kyuubi vessel.

Neji tossed the mission report on the desk. "Deidara's dead."

Naruto nodded, not at all shocked. He had learned to become accustomed to such things. In the recent war, all of Konoha's shinobi had stepped up to the plate, and he was immensely proud of what they had accomplished. "Injuries?"

"Lee has a bad cut on his leg, though you wouldn't know it from looking at him." Neji rolled his eyes. "Tenten's in critical condition at the hospital. Gai's with her, but I should probably get over there as soon as I can."

Naruto nodded. Neji had recently begun courting Tenten, and he could tell that it pained the Hyuuga to be away from her for too long. "Go ahead, Neji, and tell your teammates thank you for a job well done."

And with that, Neji disappeared in a puff of smoke.

Naruto immediately returned to the window, the itch on his back not forgotten. Far off in the distance, clouds were gathering, and a flash of lightning cracked the sky.

_Omens upon omens,_ he thought. _A storm's coming, and it's not just in those clouds._

Lightning struck again. Though it was miles in the distance, Naruto could feel something sinister wash over him, and he was hit by a wave of chakra that seemed to be screaming out his name.

He stood up and headed for the door. Such power could only belong to one person.

_Teme. _

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"I WILL KILL YOU!"

Itachi was frozen in place. This demon…this writhing mass of dark chakra…this _thing_ that stood in front him could not be the baby brother that he'd left crying in the Uchiha compound nine years ago.

He knew of Sasuke's growth, but he knew nothing of this.

A raw sheet of energy encased Sasuke's katana as he drew it, almost in slow motion, from the sheath across his back.

"Brother," the being surrounded in hellfire growled, "for years I have waited for this moment. For years I have trained, have destroyed my body, have destroyed my mind in order to arrive at this place, at this time. When I am finished with you, your blood will bathe the grass and I will lick the drops from my lips.

"Brother, prepare to die."

And Sasuke charged, his body a blur as his sword pierced his brother's heart, blood spraying him like war paint. His sharingan met Itachi's, and remorse fleeted across his brother's eyes so quickly that the avenger wasn't even sure it had been there at all.

A small smile found its way onto Itachi's lips as he breathed his final breath. "Tell me, Sasuke…" He coughed up blood, red liquid staining his pale skin. "…how do you feel?"

And Uchiha Itachi went limp in his brother's arms.

Dead.

_He's dead._

_He's dead._

The words rushed back to him.

_How do you feel?_

Sasuke stood tall, his cursed seal not retreating, his eyes not wavering from his brother's, now frozen in permanent red pools of death.

"How do I feel, nii-_san_?"

Sheer power overcame him, and he turned towards the bush behind which the Konoha ninjas hid, his face not his own but a monster's. Murder danced in his eyes, and his lips curled up into a malicious grin that even Orochimaru could not rival.

Poison dripped off his tongue as he spoke in a whisper so intense, so chilling, that Uchiha Sasuke became the epitome of terror.

"I feel _alive._"

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**The review button's calling to you!**


	3. Failure

**A/N: AAAAAAAAAAAAH!**

**Computer viruses are not fun to deal with, just to let you know.**

**Anyway, I'm back, and it's highly likely that you'll get an update not only today but also tomorrow. Happy:-)**

**Much thanks to everyone who reviewed, faved, or made me feel all fuzzy inside on the last chapter:**

**DarkAngelRakell**

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**Boshoku**

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**Disclaimer: Surprise of the century! Naruto isn't mine!**

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Chapter 3

This was a dream.

It was all a dream.

Sasuke was back in Otogakure, and this hellish figure in front of her had been conjured up in her own nightmares by her own demons, not his.

Sakura felt warm breath hit her arm and saw Kakashi's eyes narrow, his fingernails digging into his palms and leaving behind crescent moons of blood.

This was Kakashi's prodigy—the boy in which he saw himself—entangled in a web of darkness, lies, and pain.

This was her Sasuke-kun—the icy, beautiful boy that she had once loved more deeply than life itself—only a mere shadow of who he once was.

And this was most definitely not a dream.

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Shikamaru watched warily as the Uchiha examined his clawed hands, almost as though he had to accustom himself to their strength. What could they do? The Nara genius did not know. But then again, he didn't really want to find out.

His fingertips pressed tightly together, Shikamaru closed his eyes and thought.

_Goal: To get us all out of here without getting caught by him._

_Procedure: …_

How could he deal with an enemy he was no longer sure he knew?

_I don't think even the Uchiha is aware of what kind of destruction he can now wreak._

Shikamaru glanced quickly at Sakura and Kakashi, who both seemed to be stuck on the edge of a monstrous canyon. Crimson droplets stained Sakura's lips from where she had bitten them in anxiety. Kakashi stared ahead, his eyes dark and emotionless. Slowly, he reached up and lifted his hitai-ate, and his sharingan flashed with a ruthlessness that Shikamaru had never seen anyone but the Uchiha exhibit before.

Sakura noted the sudden change in her sensei and squeezed his shoulder comfortingly. He rested his hand on top of hers and their eyes met, revealing a connection built from years of teamwork that Shikamaru was not a part of and could never understand. It was the deepest of friendships, the deepest knowledge that they were feeling the same feelings and neither knew how to deal with them, with the monster that waited for them on the other side of a veil that could not be lifted without ripping the stitches they had so carefully sewn over their wounds.

Their gazes reverted back to Sasuke, and Sakura's fingers slipped inside her kunai pouch.

_I had better come up with something fast,_ Shikamaru thought. _Or they're both going to break into a million little pieces._

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"Tsunade!"

The former Hokage hastily put down her sake and spun to face her successor, for if Naruto had dropped the "shishou" suffix and consequently his usual impertinent tone, something had to be very wrong.

She raised an eyebrow questioningly and motioned for him to take a seat. He did not.

"For the record, I never asked you to do this. This conversation never happened."

Tsunade nodded gravely and waited for him to continue.

"Head to the east like the wind. You will be leading a team consisting of yourself, Sai, and Yamato. They're waiting at the gates. Start out as soon as you possibly can."

Tsunade stood and reached for her medical bag. "Are you going to tell me why I'm doing this?"

Lightning flashed outside, illuminating the fire in Naruto's eyes.

"You'll know," he said. "You'll know."

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Sasuke sniffed the air.

There were three of them. Two men and a woman. One considerably older than the other two. Two of them extremely tense, one much calmer but still on edge. All three shinobi. Powerful. Strong. Vaguely familiar to some small part of him, but not enough to spark his interest. And they were all very much…afraid.

Of him? He smirked. They should be.

_I can tell all of that just from the wind,_ he thought with a sick pleasure. _These new powers are…splendid._

He sensed the woman preparing herself, almost as though she was going to jump out of the bushes and slice his head off.

_Hmph,_ he thought smugly. _She wishes._

A Chidori formed in his left hand, and the thought of chakra depletion, for the first time in his life, did not even cross his mind.

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But it crossed Kakashi's.

The mantra he had drilled into his head since the first time he had made the nearly fatal mistake of overusing the Chidori flashed like a warning sign before his eyes.

_Two times. Only two._

Sasuke knew that limit well.

_He's pushing it, especially after that more dangerous version he used earlier,_ Kakashi thought. _He's not thinking._

But, as Kakashi knew all too well, thinking was not something Uchiha Sasuke enjoyed doing on certain matters. If he thought, he reached conclusions, and the conclusions did not always please him.

He had disregarded what using that jutsu would do to him, though some part of him must've known.

_He's out of control._

Hatake Kakashi was rarely afraid, but right now, he was terrified: terrified for the lives of his teammates, himself, but especially for the raven-haired man in front of him.

Sasuke could well have been himself when he was younger. They both knew loss. They both knew pain and anguish that few people could understand. But Kakashi, unlike his prodigy, had been able to move on before rage and sorrow consumed him completely.

He had wanted so much to protect Sasuke from an experience no person in their right mind should have to go through…because they would not be in their right mind for long.

But he had failed. He had failed, and now the darkness had taken over the last remaining Uchiha and come alive in his form. Now, he was untouchable by kindness, love, any of the things Kakashi had come to realize were all that could keep one sane in a world of so much murder and hatred.

Kakashi looked at Sasuke, and he was ripped in two.

His gaze shifted to the pink-haired kunoichi at his side, and he felt an indomitable determination radiating from her.

_Her heart will bleed before today is over. But…she is our only hope._

_Please, let me keep her alive. I have failed before; let me not fail in this._

_Because if I do, everything will be lost._

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Sasuke was tired of waiting.

He charged, his fist invisible underneath the coil of energy in his palm, nothing but death in his eyes.

_Kill._

_KILL._

He smirked.

_I will._

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**Reviews are always appreciated. :-)**


	4. Power

**A/N: Thank you all for your warm responses to yesterday's chapter. I love you dearly.**

**Nightshadow Dweller**

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**Disclaimer: The splendid product of Kishimoto-sama's mind that is Naruto does not belong to me. Yet. –evil laugh-**

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Chapter 4

"Ouch! Damnit…"

"Tsunade-sama, I mean this in the kindest way possible, but if you don't focus, one of these trees is going to knock you out."

"Sai, who am I?"

"A legendary Sannin, Konoha's slug queen, the former Hokage, and one of the best medic-nins in the Fire Country."

"And?"

"…and the leader of this mission."

"If you forget that again, I shall rip your head off. Is that clear?"

"Yes, Tsunade-sama."

Tsunade grunted in victory only to promptly slam into another tree, landing in a heap on the ground. Sai and Yamato rushed after her.

"Tsunade-sama…"

"If you say anything, Sai, I will cut out your intestines and force-feed them to you. Is that clear?"

"Yes, Tsunade-sama."

The Godaime Hokage sighed, because as much as she would like to watch her teammate choke on his own innards, she knew that he was right. Her mind was wandering, putting together more and more pieces of the puzzle that was the reason for this mission. There must be a powerful enemy about to cross their path and, if they failed to detain him or her, Konoha's. If Naruto had seen it necessary to send his best shinobi out of the village in the middle of a war, something disastrous must be happening.

"Tsunade! Sai! I found something!"

Yamato proffered a strand of hair to his teammates. Tsunade took it, scrutinizing it carefully.

"It's pink," she finally said.

Another piece of the puzzle clicked.

_Team Kakashi has been this way._

"Sakura's, you think?" Sai asked.

"No, the tooth fairy's," Tsunade snapped. "Honestly, Sai, how many people have you ever seen with pink hair?"

"Two, actually…"

"Naruto dying his hair for Halloween doesn't count," Yamato cut in.

"Well…"

Tsunade ignored the bickering of the two men and twirled the hair around her thumb. So Sakura, Shikamaru, and Kakashi had been here—and not too long ago. Her sensitive fingers, made keener from years of medical work, detected just a hint of heat at the bottom of the strand.

_We're a back-up squad for whatever those three have gotten themselves into,_ she reasoned.

Lightning flashed in the distance, illuminating the stark tree trunks around her. The air smelled of rain, moss, and raw energy.

_Raw energy…_

Tsunade jumped up abruptly, landing on a low branch and taking off without a pause. She sensed Sai and Yamato join her, knowing that they had picked up on her urgency. They moved like shadows, flitting so fast among the leaves that no one could be sure that they had been there at all. No one spoke. A light drizzle began to fall, but they did not pause. They were all focused like arrows on a target, a target they could not see but could sense more strongly with each passing second.

"Tsunade-sama," Sai finally ventured, "what is it?"

He thought he heard her attempt a laugh before she replied.

"Bloody Uchiha."

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In a flash, Team Kakashi was out in the open, and Sasuke's Chidori harmlessly destroyed the bushes they had been hiding behind. Sakura clutched a kunai so tightly that her knuckles were turning white. Shuriken dangled off of Kakashi's fingers like rings. Shikamaru's eyes were everywhere, scanning the battlefield rapidly, tracing his opponent's figure up and down, and glancing at the clouds gathering above their heads.

As for Sasuke…all he did was cackle.

A long time ago, back when they had still truly known him, Sasuke laughed only on the rarest occasions. As for this voluntary display of emotion—regardless of the fact that it was a dark emotion…they did not know what to make of it.

He stood before them, his hair long and blue, demonic wings stained scarlet spreading from his back, teeth long and pointed, eyes bottomless pools of blood, and he grinned in a fashion Orochimaru would envy.

"I do not suppose," he said, his voice soft yet more penetrating than a sword, "that you will tell me who you are or why you were spying on me. Nor do I especially care. All that matters is that you have irritated me. And I do not like to be irritated."

_Since when does he talk like this?_ Sakura wondered.

"So," he continued, unsheathing his katana, "how would you like to die?"

Kakashi did not hesitate.

"Kuchiyose no Jutsu!"

Instantly, he was surrounded by his pack of nin-dogs, each one baring its fangs and tensed for attack. Kakashi turned to the smallest, Pakkun.

"Head for Konoha," he ordered. "Tell Naruto and anyone you meet on the way what is happening."

Pakkun nodded, glancing distastefully at the hellish Uchiha, and broke into a run.

Sasuke seemed to roll his eyes as he formed his hand seals.

"Katon: Gokakyu…"

"Kagemane no Jutsu!"

Sasuke turned to face the brown-haired man only to find that their shadows had been joined into one long, black smudge along the bloodied ground.

_This technique is familiar,_ he realized. _I have seen it before…somewhere…_

But he could not place where, and this irritated him. And as he had already mentioned, Uchiha Sasuke did not like to be irritated.

"Chidori Nagashi: Kusanagi!"

Shikamaru's eyes widened in horror. _He didn't even use hand signs._

Almost as though he could read his mind, Sasuke spoke. "Hand signs are for genin, and I?" He smiled maliciously. "I am power incarnate."

Shikamaru felt like reminding Sasuke that he was in fact still a genin, but he sensed that doing so would not be in his best interest.

Almost as though the Nara's shadow jutsu had not affected him in the least, Sasuke raised his katana, now covered in chirping neon blue electricity, and slammed it into the earth. The lightning traveled along their combined shadows almost so quickly that Shikamaru could not follow it.

"AHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHH!"

Sakura screamed as he hit the ground with a thud, his body still twitching from the shock.

Kakashi was in a state of disbelief.

_That was three. And from the looks of things, he's not even tired. _

_Shit._

"Sasuke," he said warningly, "know that you brought this upon yourself."

For the first time, the Uchiha really looked at the older man, his eyes immediately drawn to the blazing sharingan eye.

_What? He cannot be an Uchiha…it's not possible._

_He's not,_ some distant part of his mind almost beyond his reach replied. _It's a transplanted eye. You knew him from Before._

Before.

He did not like to think about Before.

He was so weak then.

_But I am not weak now._

He smirked. "So…sharingan against sharingan?"

Both men crouched as though ready to pounce and rip each other's throats out. They were capable of it; Sakura saw it in their eyes.

"Sakura," Kakashi said quickly. "Stay out of this. Back me up only if I need it. You…"

His voice trailed off as Sasuke charged, a forbidden jutsu dripping like venom off the tip of his tongue.

"Come on, pretty boy," Kakashi murmured, a Chidori beginning to form in his palm. "Let's dance."

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**Mwahaha! I love sadistic Sasuke! If you like him too, you should review. **


	5. Trash

**A/N: Many of you have been asking about when the SasuSaku action will start. Well, ladies and gents, your waiting is over. No, nothing heavy…yet. :-)**** But we'll see if Sasuke's got any heart left in him.**

**Now, time to dish out the thank you's for last chapter.**

**Sasuki-Uchiha**

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**Boshoku: You are my favorite person in the world. Thank you for your honest reviews. **

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**Disclaimer: I tried to steal Naruto and got hit over the head with a copy of Icha-Icha Paradise. So alas, it is still not mine. **

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Chapter 5

"Tsunade…stop…can't…breathe…"

"And you call yourself a ninja, Sai. Complain again and I will cut off your penis. Is that clear?"

Sai nodded rapidly, absolutely terrified. "Yes Tsunade-sama, yes ma'am."

"Tsunade," Yamato said quietly, quickening his pace so that he was running with her, "we can't keep going at this speed. Sai's going to pass out, and I'm not doing too well myself."

"We're almost there," Tsunade muttered through clenched teeth. "I will not have that damned Uchiha taking out Sakura on my watch."

"If we get there and collapse, there won't be much you can do."

"Yamato, if you say one more word, I will…"

"I know, I know, remove one of my limbs and shove it up my ass. Tsunade, you have to listen to me. I understand how much you care about Sakura. I understand how you've watched her tear herself up inside from losing the one thing she truly loved. I understand how even the thought of him makes you dream of watching blood pour from his severed head. But I also understand that there is a worse feeling, and that is showing up and not being able to help her at all. Don't put yourself in that situation."

She closed her eyes tightly and nodded. "We'll take a break in that clearing up ahead for a few minutes. And Yamato?"

He looked up, his eyes hesitant. "Yes, Tsunade?"

"Thank you."

He smiled warmly. "Any time."

"PakkAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAH!"

Both shinobi skidded to a stop on the next branch, startled by Sai's sudden outburst. Yamato's feet made contact with the limb and he landed gracefully, crouching in attack position. Tsunade's body made contact with the trunk, and she landed in a pile on the ground next to Sai, who was so tired he had missed his jump and fallen, arms flailing wildly, face first.

"Damn tree-hopping," Tsunade cursed, picking herself up onto her knees.

"Heh. I guess it's true then: Naruto's not the only clumsy Hokage."

For the first time, Tsunade noticed the tiny nin-dog sitting at her feet waiting impatiently for her to collect herself.

"Pakkun!" Sai exclaimed, spitting dirt out of his mouth.

"Hey, Buttface," Pakkun said cheerily. "How's it going?"

"Not too bad, Midget…"

"Pakkun and Sai," Tsunade grunted, looking like she was about ready to skin them both, "this is no time for idle chatter."

"That's very true," Pakkun agreed, his brow furrowing and his eyes immediately losing their playfulness. "I'm sure you've sensed it in the air: raw power, a power the likes of which I have never encountered before."

"Pakkun," Tsunade began, her voice unsteady, "did Sakura find Sasuke?"

"No," he said, his voice low and soft, almost as if he were on the verge of tears. "No. Sakura didn't find Sasuke. She found a monster."

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"Sakura," Kakashi groaned, his words floating out of his mouth on his last breath, "I'm so sorry."

And the silver-haired jounin went slack against Sasuke's chest. The Uchiha released Kakashi's throat and removed his other hand from his opponent's stomach. A gaping red hole was left in its stead, so large that Sakura could see the darkening sky through her sensei's torso. Bile welled up in her throat, and she had to struggle to fight it back down.

"Sasuke," she whispered, tears in her eyes, "what have you become?"

He threw Kakashi to the side, his body lying in a heap next to Shikamaru's, and grinned. "I…am marvelous."

"Marvelous?" Sakura replied incredulously. "Marvelous? You think the limp bodies of your friends are marvelous?" She shook her head. "I thought I knew you." She was shaking now, furiously trembling as she tried to hold her anger in. "I THOUGHT I KNEW YOU!"

Sasuke raised an eyebrow, quickly growing impatient. "Who _are_ you?"

"I'm Sakura! Sakura, the annoying fangirl that clung to you like you would go floating off any moment! Sakura, the kunoichi who tried so hard to impress you but was never good enough in your eyes! Sakura, the hopeless case who gave her life to you and had it shoved back in her face! Damnit, Sasuke, I know you're still in there somewhere! Why can't you hear me?"

Something sparked in Sasuke's mind. _Sakura…pink hair…I remember her…_

_No. I don't. She's from Before. Before is dead to me._

"_You_ are dead to me."

"What?" she asked, her voice quivering.

"You are dead to me," he repeated, his voice harsh like nails on a chalkboard. "You are not even worth killing."

Sakura's heart almost stopped beating.

"Sasuke! Damnit, pull your head out of your ass! Don't you know who you sound like?"

"Yes," Sasuke snapped, his eyes flashing crimson. "I sound like a man, a man who has become too strong for this pathetic world, a man whom no one dare defy, a man who will never be that weak, crying boy in the streets again!"

_Sasuke was on his knees. The streets were dark save for the light of the moon, which reflected eerily off of the pools of blood surrounding him. This was it…it was over…Itachi would kill him without even taking a step…_

_The blow never came._

_Sasuke looked up to see Itachi turned away from him, the wind cold in his hair, but he did not shiver._

"_Foolish little brother…you are not even worth killing."_

_Sasuke looked up, his eyes fountains, his body shaking so hard that he felt as though his teeth would rattle out of his head. This person in front of him…this killer…this could not be the Itachi that had carried him on his shoulders, laughing like a young man should, not staring blankly ahead with the stone-cold eyes of a murderer. _

"_If you want to kill me, then blame me. Hate me. Live on in shame."_

_Live in shame?_

That was one thing Uchiha Sasuke would not do.

"You still don't understand," Sakura said, a small smile appearing on her lips. "After all these years, you still don't understand.

"You were never weak, Sasuke. You were eight; you did all you could do. You trained, you worked, you centered your life around killing him, and in doing so, you became a strong shinobi, a person everyone could admire. But along the way, you ran into something you weren't expecting, didn't you? You found friends. You found something to live for besides the pointless killing of your brother you were so concentrated on. You found a spark of hope burning in your cold heart, and for a little while, you kindled it, becoming stronger with each passing day. That is when we are strong: when we have someone to protect, someone who gives our life meaning, someone we would die for."

_My heart is made of ice. It has always been made of ice, and no flame can melt it._

_So why do I feel this sudden urge to take her into my arms and tell her I am still that person? I would be lying. That Sasuke is dead. That weakling will not walk this earth again as long as I live. _

"But you never understood. And now look at you: you stand before me as a demon, not a man. The man you thought of as your father—yes, Sasuke, I knew how you felt about him; I always knew more than I let on—is now lying in the grass with marks from your fingers around his throat! Your brother is finally dead, but you can't move past that. What's the meaning in your life now? That's what you're asking yourself, isn't it?"

_My purpose…_

"You can't see that we are still here. You try to shut out the days before you left us, but they will always haunt you. You don't realize that we have been preparing ourselves tirelessly for the day you would return. I'm not the pathetic little girl who used to hang on your arm, Sasuke. I am a woman, a woman whose strength comes from the lives of the people she works to save and protect. Naruto—I know you remember him, you have to remember him—isn't the number one hyperactive knuckleheaded genin anymore. Now, he's the number one hyperactive knuckleheaded man and Hokage to boot. You think he gets his power from all the ramen he eats? No. He gets it from the strength of his people and the strength of the village that he would give his life for in a heartbeat. We're more ready than we ever were for you to come back."

There was fire in Sakura's eyes. No longer could she contain her rage. Unbidden, chakra gathered around her fist.

"But you won't! You won't do it! You'll just continue to leave behind the people that care about you! You'll run and run because you're afraid—afraid that you'll find that your life up till now has been for nothing, afraid that you'll return and no one will have missed you! You say you have power? No. You have nothing. In abandoning all that you love, no matter how much you want to deny it, you've become nothing but an empty husk. Do you remember what Kakashi-sensei used to say to us?"

Her eyes gleamed with vibrance, her body tall, her countenance hard with pride. And as she stood before him, he saw not a helpless girl but a powerful woman, a woman who did not need the shoulders of Uchiha Sasuke to support her.

"Those who break the rules," Sakura recited, her voice resonant and strong, "are called trash. But those who abandon their friends…are lower than trash."

_Is she saying…_

"And you, Uchiha, are lower than trash, and I will no longer concern myself with you."

She slung Shikamaru's body over her shoulder and picked up Kakashi in her arms. Sasuke could do nothing but stare at her back as she turned, the leaves twirling between them already marking the chasm Sakura had just made.

"Goodbye," she said quietly, and walked away.

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"So what Orochimaru said about the cursed seal is true," Tsunade breathed.

Pakkun nodded. "Sasuke's been consumed by it."

Tsunade stood abruptly, brushing herself off and gathering the weapons that had scattered on the ground when she fell.

"Where are you going?" Yamato asked worriedly, catching the fiery glare in her eyes.

She did not look at him. "I am going to save my apprentice."

"Oh, I would advise against that," Pakkun said, halting her in her tracks. "You haven't seen what the seal's done to him. He's become a living, breathing mass of chakra. I hate to say it…but none of them, not even Kakashi, stand a chance."

"Which is precisely why I have to go," Tsunade snapped, channeling chakra into her feet and beginning her ascent into the treetops.

"Tsunade, by the time you get there, Sakura will already be dead."

Tsunade shook her head violently and climbed onto a branch above her teammates' heads. "I refuse to believe that."

"It's time to go back," Yamato said, trying to be firm but failing as his voice cracked with fear. "There's nothing we can do. Let's not lose any more Konoha shinobi than we have to."

"WE DON'T HAVE TO LOSE SAKURA!" Tsunade screamed. "I don't care what you three do. Save your own asses. Run like rabbits back to the village. But I do not abandon a comrade in need. I will go to Sakura, and if I am too late, then I will rip Sasuke's heart out with my bare hands."

She took off, moving through the air with a grace that came from sheer determination and an indomitable will that nothing would stop her from keeping her apprentice alive.

And then suddenly, everything froze.

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**Cliffhanger!**

**The more you review, the more incentive I have to update faster…**


	6. Love

**A/N:** **So I think it's about time I get over my writer's block and update. :)**

**Thanks to all the wonderful people who contributed to last week's generous boost of my ego:**

**GravitationYaoi**

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**Disclaimer:** **I shall call him Sasuke, and he shall be mine, and he shall be my Sasuke…**

**Um, no. Naruto still isn't mine.**

**------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------**

Chapter 6

It hit Naruto like an anvil.

_Genjutsu._

"Kai!"

But it did not dispel. It only seemed to approach him faster.

This was no ordinary jutsu—that much was apparent.

_I smell Uchiha all over this…but Itachi…or the teme…_

The Rokudaime didn't have time to finish the thought as the colossal wave of power overwhelmed him.

_Damnit…I always sucked at genjutsu…_

And, hands still posed for an attack, he froze.

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"STOP!"

A war was going on in Sasuke's mind, and he was sick and tired of it.

He felt a paralyzing power shoot out of him with astonishing speed, but he disregarded it. If anything, it would at least incapacitate that damn annoying woman.

_Trash?_ Uchiha Sasuke was not trash. Uchiha Sasuke was a force to be reckoned with.

Apparently the woman—Sakura, she had called herself—did not realize this, or she did and chose to ignore it. She continued to walk away, her pace never quickening, the bodies of her near-dead comrades not seeming to weigh her down, a slight swing to her hips as though what she had just done made her immensely pleased with herself.

Sakura…he knew that name. He remembered her following him almost to the point of being a stalker. He remembered the over-affectionate "_kuuun_" she always added to his name. He remembered how utterly pathetic, helpless, and weak she was.

He did not like to associate himself with weakness.

Still, that Sakura was a thing of Before, and this new one…well, she had guts; he'd give her that.

He had half a mind to rush after her and punch her in the back of the head for walking away from him like that.

The killer instinct still surged within him, and he took a step towards her.

But something stopped him.

_What's the meaning in your life now?_

Her question haunted him. When Itachi had died, the moment Sasuke had worked towards for nine years died with him. What was there for him now? Restoration of his clan? Hmph. He scoffed at that. Who wanted a whining, pitiful woman clinging to them constantly? He didn't need that.

He didn't need anyone. People were nothing but hindrances.

So why, then, did something in him burn when Sakura spoke?

_In abandoning all that you love, no matter how much you want to deny it, you've become nothing but an empty husk. _

He did not understand.

What filled him?

Blood. So much blood…not all his own.

The blood sustained him. The blood gave him a purpose, gave him a reason for living. With each drop of bled he spilled, he felt himself grow stronger.

But blood was not what sustained Sakura.

Radiating off of her was not a lust for scarlet; it was not a lust at all. It was an emotion Sasuke found foreign, something he had thought dead long ago.

_Love._

He hated it, he condemned it, he threw it on the ground and jumped upon it in a fit of fury…but there it was standing before him, strong, flourishing, and, dare he say it, beautiful.

In the shinobi world, there was no room for such purity, such untainted goodness.

Yet there it was.

Turmoil erupted in Sasuke's head.

_Love…lust…love…lust…_

"STOP!"

The breeze halted.

Nothing stirred.

Everything was still.

Everything, that is, but Uchiha Sasuke's mind.

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She resisted with everything she had, but she could not resist what she did not know for long.

_What is this? I've never sensed anything like it…unless…_

Sakura's mind raced against the mass of power bearing down upon her.

_Nehan shoja, Narakumi, Kokoni arazu…Tsukuyomi._

_Tsukuyomi._

A memory rushed back.

"_Naruto," Sakura began as they rushed through the forest at top speed, "what exactly did Itachi do to you?"_

"_Kicked my ass," the blonde muttered._

_She held back the urge to slap him across the face. "Naruto, honestly. I'm a genjutsu specialist. I'd like to be familiar with as many types as possible."_

_Naruto sighed. "Fair enough." He spoke but did not make eye contact. "He drew upon my fears. I saw all of you…dead. I saw the sky blackened and him looming over me, those damned red eyes never faltering. But the most shaking thing about it was that it seemed to last an eternity, but when you released me…"_

"…_it had only been a few seconds," Sakura finished._

_Naruto nodded. "It was hell, and what made it that way was that it just kept going on, and on, and on…"_

"_So Itachi just doesn't mess with your mind," Sakura reasoned. "He messes with time."_

Time.

_Sasuke is suspending the area in time._

She felt herself slowing, her movements becoming sluggish, but she fought the genjutsu's effects nonetheless. She would not lose to him now, not when she had finally become strong enough to stare him in the eyes and tell him how he had taken not only her heart but the hearts of his friends and torn them apart.

She would not lose when she finally held him in the palm of her hand.

"SASUKEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEE!"

Sasuke…

Sasuke…

The scream echoed in the emptiness, and she was surrounded by the name of the man who, for seventeen years, had controlled like a puppet.

But not anymore.

"Sasuke," she said, completely released from the genjutsu, "I am free of you. I have taken your hand and cut off its hold on my heart. I fight you now as a kunoichi of Konoha, not a fangirl trying to win your attentions. I fight you now as an equal, and today we shall see whether love or lust triumphs."

_Love…lust…love…lust…_

_Which one, Sasuke, which one?_

For the first time since their meeting, he spoke her name.

"Sakura."

He met her eyes, and she gasped.

He smirked. "Do you see it? Do you _feel_ my power? Does it scare you? Tell me, little girl: are you frightened?"

Sakura shook her head vehemently. "No. The empty shell of a former friend does not scare me. The evil radiating off of you does not scare me, because I know it is not you but the rage that is eating away at your soul. Only one thing truly terrifies me."

Sasuke's eyes flashed crimson.

_The Mangekyou Sharingan._

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**Jutsu Help:**

**Kai: used to dispel genjutsu**

**Kokoni arazu no jutsu: literally "false surroundings technique"; used to change the appearance of an area or object**

**Narakumi no jutsu: literally "hell viewing technique"; this is the jutsu Kakashi uses on Sakura during the bell test**

**Nehan shoja no jutsu: literally "Temple of Nirvana technique"; this is the jutsu Kabuto used to put everyone at the Chuunin Exam to sleep**

**Tsukuyomi: Itachi's technique in which he traps the victim in an illusion that seems to last for hours when really it is only a few seconds**


	7. Irony

**A/N: So I was starting to get a little worried that Sasuke's skills in this story were a bit unrealistic, but after chapter 361, I changed my mind.**

**The kid has TALENT. (No freaking way, I know.)**

**Anyway.**

**Cookies for all!**

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**Starry Starry Night 13**

**Disclaimer: Kishimoto is in my basement. Naruto should be mine by the next chapter. But until then…**

**----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------**

Chapter 7

They fought.

She was fast—incredibly fast. He could not remember her ever moving with such ease and nimbleness before. He turned, and she was gone. And just as quickly as she had disappeared, she would appear above him, pouncing to deliver what would surely be a lethal punch.

But he could see it all.

His eyes burned, and though he could not see his new face, he could almost feel the sharingan's tomoe molding together. He knew what he now possessed.

And it made him feel…_alive_.

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Sakura dodged a well-aimed kick and flipped backwards, sending shuriken flying at the demonic figure of her opponent.

"Katon: Gokakyu no jutsu!"

She smirked. Time to show him what she had been up to while he was gone.

"Suiton: Suikodan no jutsu!"

A torpedo of water shot out from Sakura's hands, heading straight for Sasuke's fireball as its shape slowly streamlined into that of a shark. The two collided, her water successfully extinguishing his flames.

"For the past four years, I've been developing my natural affinity for water. Seems like Fate knew I'd have to fight against you someday. Nasty thing, irony."

"You sound like that damn Hyuuga," Sasuke snarled, forming hand signs so rapidly that all she could see was a white blur.

"Kunai rendan!"

A smile danced across Sakura's lips as the metal daggers shot out of the slowly dissipating steam.

"Doton: Dochu Eigyo no jutsu!"

The kunai froze in midair as Sakura vanished, then reversed direction, heading straight for Sasuke. He stood and grimaced, waiting for them to lodge into his body. Kunai rendan worked via heat-seeking, and with Sakura hiding underground (he knew that was where she was; he recognized the jutsu the moment she began the seals), that only left one toasty warm target in the area: him.

Five kunai struck him in the wing. He wrenched them out forcefully, swearing profanely. With one jutsu, Sakura has relieved him of his biggest advantage: flight.

He had underestimated her…but then again, she had underestimated him as well.

Because while he wasn't able to divert the kunai, he was able to spot her position perfectly with the Mangekyou. And with a roll of his eyes, he punched the ground and snatched ahold of her arm, tugging her forcefully up through the dirt.

Sakura coughed up mud as she was thrown across the battlefield as though she were a rag doll. She landed on her feet, ignoring the stabs of pain in her knees from the hard landing.

"Not bad, kunoichi," Sasuke grinned, "but you seem to have forgotten something."

"Your fucking eyes do not worry me, Uchiha," Sakura snapped, reaching into her kunai pouch. "And it's your memory that's slipped concerning me."

"Poison," Sasuke said simply.

She was lying to herself. He knew it. She knew it.

His eyes terrified her.

Medic-nins knew every inch of the human body like the back of their hands. They knew its greatest strengths…and also its great weaknesses.

Sakura liked to play off of those weaknesses…but with an opponent who could take one look at her and automatically see what it had taken her years to learn…

She wondered how long he had looked.

"Pervert," she sneered, and broke the tube.

He may have been able to see the poison in her pouch, but he could not avoid the noxious gas that was now spreading quickly throughout the air.

"You're not frightened," Sasuke said in the same tone he would use when talking about the weather. "Let's see…ah yes. You've developed an immunity to this particular toxin. I can see it in your bloodstream."

She started to panic. By now, he should be struggling for breath—not talking to her as though they were having a leisurely conversation over ramen. There was no way he could resist the poison. No way.

Unless…

"Unfortunately for you, I happen to have built up a resistance to every major poison in the world. So nice try, _Sa-ku-ra_, but I'm afraid you've failed yet again."

He glared down at her, his eyes laughing at her sweaty, bloody body. "You always were so…_weak._"

She snapped.

"DIE!"

Any love she had for him was forgotten. All the years she had spent waiting for him were put behind her. The boy she had doted upon was gone, and she was not getting him back.

This monster had destroyed her Sasuke-kun.

And she would kill him for it.

"Whatever you are…you will not leave this place."

And she slammed her fist into the ground with such vehemence that the entire field crumbled instantly.

_Damn! I can't fly!_

Quickly, he bit his thumb, his sharingan catching Sakura doing the same.

Two voices, resonating with unimaginable power, rang out in unison.

"KUCHIYOSE NO JUTSU!"

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Manda was having a very pleasant dream. It involved him ripping off Orochimaru's head. He then proceeded to rip off the head of that Uchiha brat as well, since he had denied him the pleasure of decapitating the snake sannin in real life.

Strange. The kid was supposed to be screaming in pain. Instead, he just kept shouting, "Kuchiyose no jutsu! Kuchiyose no jutsu!"

Manda awoke in the middle of the transportation.

_Shit._

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"Sakura-sama! Don't tell me…"

"Yes, Katsuyu. That's Sasuke."

The last Uchiha rose out of the dust on the head of a giant purple snake, his hair blowing wildly in the wind, his blood-red eyes piercing right through her.

"So he's taken Orochimaru's place, then," the slug queen murmured sadly.

"So it would seem," Sakura growled, returning his stare as she was lifted off the ground. If looks could kill…

"Brat, you woke me up," Manda hissed, his forked tongue flickering in and out of his mouth almost as though he couldn't wait to eat his summoner.

"You'll forgive me when you see who you're fighting," Sasuke said, narrowing his eyes at Sakura.

"I hope so, dipshit," Manda snarled. "For your sake."

"Katsuyu," Sakura murmured, "protect me. I have to kill him…but there's something I need to know first."

The giant slug nodded and lowered her head. Sakura stepped off onto the rubble-covered ground.

"Tell me one thing before you die and take your precious clan with you, Sasuke-_kun_," Sakura began. "How the hell did you get those eyes?"

Sasuke smirked his famous smirk.

"Wait for a moment, Manda. I might as well honor her last request before she dies." He leaped gracefully off of the serpent and landed in front of her, his face only inches from hers.

She felt her heartbeat quicken.

_Stop it, damnit,_ Sakura scolded herself. _This is not the man you love. This is a demon._

"Nice to know I still have that effect on you…_Sa-ku-ra_," he purred, stroking her cheek as he lifted her chin, his eyes meeting hers. "Tsukuyomi."

A familiar building appeared in Sakura's mind.

_Eight-year-old Sasuke raced up the steps and through the gold-plated doors of the Uchiha temple. He could barely contain his anxiety. _

"_Right corner of the temple…under the floor…" he repeated to himself, almost as if uttering a mantra._

_Sasuke fell to his knees and lifted the stone away, revealing a compartment and a scroll contained within. He inhaled sharply._

"_This is the Uchiha clan scroll," he breathed._

_He unrolled it slowly and began to read._

"We can skip this part. There is no reason for you to know," Sasuke said coldly, his hand still on her chin.

The action sped up, then suddenly slowed down. The scroll was unrolled much further. He was still reading.

"'_The Mangekyou Sharingan has always been the Uchiha clan's most treasured and coveted power, but it comes with a heavy price. In order to obtain this highest of kekkei genkai, one must lose his best friend…__**or anyone whom he once cared for above all else.**__"_

The colors swirled, and Sakura was back on the battlefield, Sasuke walking away from her.

"Now you know…that there were many reasons why I had to kill him…"

It all made sense now.

Kakashi had killed no one to obtain his Mangekyou; all he had had to do was watch his favorite student, the boy in which he saw himself, walk away.

And by slaying his brother, Sasuke had destroyed the one person whom he had once looked upon as a god—the one person who had the power to take his life and twist it beyond recognition.

The one person he had once cared for above all else.

And here she was, about to kill the person that had, only four years ago, been her world.

She laughed inwardly.

That's what you'd call ironic.

**----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------**

**Next chapter: The end of the battle…who will triumph, and who will fall?**


	8. Strength

**A/N: AAH! Exploding Deidara! As funny as that sounds, I wonder what will happen to Sasuke…**

**But enough with my strange concerns for the well-being of fictional characters.**

**Sorry if I confused anyone with my ending comment on the previous update. THIS IS NOT THE LAST CHAPTER. And there will be a lemon in the near future. I didn't rate it M for nothing. :)**

**Oh, and be sure to check out my new anthology, **_**Life's a Bang.**_

**Thank-yous go to:**

**Captain Stu**

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**Uchiha Sasume**

**Disclaimer: If Naruto were mine (which it's not), Sasuke would be my boy toy…and Sai…and Shikamaru…and Kakashi…**

**------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------**

Chapter 8

_Surrender._

The word resonated through Sakura's mind like the death toll of a bell. She lay in a heap on the ground, Katsuyu the only thing shielding her from the unrelenting assault of Sasuke and Manda. But the slug queen could only do so much, she thought, as she looked up once again into onyx eyes.

She groaned inwardly. She shouldn't have used that jutsu.

"_Sakura," Tsunade began, motioning for her apprentice to stay behind her, "what I am about to teach you is a last resort only. It'll kill, oh yes, but who it will kill is always up in the air."_

_Fourteen-year-old Sakura's eyes widened._

"_It requires absolutely precise chakra control to perform. The only reason I even began to consider showing you this jutsu is because you are so adept in that area."_

_She formed the hand seals slowly so her apprentice could see what she was doing._

_Tiger, Snake, Tiger, Dragon, Rat, Tiger, Monkey, repeat. _

"_I'll need you to heal me when I'm finished."_

_Sakura nodded, her eyebrows shooting up. Just how powerful was this jutsu?_

"_Chakra Daibakuha no Jutsu!" _

_Everything disintegrated. _

_A massive wave of chakra shot out from Tsunade, instantly turning everything in her path to dust. When the gales of wind conjured up by the jutsu finally settled down, everything within five kilometers in front of Tsunade was nothing but dust._

"_Sakura!"_

_Sakura shook herself and rushed to her sensei, who had collapsed in pain. Quickly, green chakra began to glow around her hands as she placed them over Tsunade's heart._

"_Like I said," she said, coughing up blood, "only a last resort."_

It was a deathtrap. She knew that well.

Yet she had ignored her common sense and used it, sending her chakra speeding towards Sasuke. But Manda was faster, and he shielded the Uchiha from the brunt of the attack. Apparently not even a forbidden jutsu could penetrate his scales.

_Punch._

She flew backwards, her body hitting the dirt with a thud and sliding before coming to a sudden stop. Katsuyu, alarmed, hurried to her side, but not before Manda swerved, blocking the slug's path.

"The girl's as good as dead," he hissed, a gleam of triumph in his eyes.

Sasuke smirked. "Enjoying the show?"

"You always choose interesting opponents, brat."

The Uchiha snickered, his sharingan scanning Sakura's limp form. She was still alive...but only just. Without enough chakra to heal herself, he would continue to bruise and batter her until it took every ounce of strength she had to keep her eyes open.

And then he would unsheathe his sword, swing it high, and stab it straight through her _loving_ heart.

Because in the end, he knew that her adoration for him had never died. How she could continue to care for him—a murderer, a beast, a monster in human form—was beyond his comprehension. It made him irritated.

And Uchiha Sasuke did not like to be irritated.

"I know…what you're thinking."

Startled, he looked down to see Sakura raising herself up on one arm. There was a look in her eyes he had not seen since his last fight with that idiot Naruto: an unwavering determination that she would get what she wanted and anyone who got in her way could go to hell.

"You're thinking that you're a demon," she said, her voice raspy. "You're thinking no one could possibly ever love you, and that you've run across something you thought was impossible, and it's frustrating you beyond belief."

She stopped and coughed, raising her hand to cover her mouth. When she brought it away, there were drops of scarlet on her lips.

"You're thinking you're rotten to the core. You're thinking there's no hope left for you, so why even bother trying to love or repair those bonds you swore you broke long ago. You're damned to hell, so you might as well have a little fun while you're still alive, right?

"But that's not how it is at all."

_What?_

"I love you, Uchiha Sasuke. I hate that I love you, that whenever I'm near you I get tingles going up my spine. I hate that I can't end this pointless adoration for you because I know that I'll just end up hurt again.

"Maybe the reason I still love you is hope. As much as you believe you're evil incarnate and can do nothing but cause war and pain, I know that some part of you that you've hidden away is resisting. Part of you wants to be human again. Part of you wants to be who you once were. Part of you wants to be _alive_."

He gripped her forcefully by the shoulders, bringing her face so close to his that she could feel his cold breath on her nose. "You listen to me. I have never been so pleased as I am now. One last link to Before…about to be broken. I will never be like I used to be. I was weak. I do not tolerate weakness."

She tried to laugh, but only coughed up more blood. "You idiot."

He shook her forcefully, causing her to bite her tongue to prevent a scream from escaping her lips. "What did you just call me?"

Playfulness flitted across her face. "You heard me."

Like lightning, a kunai was out of his pouch and pressing against her neck, making a thin red line.

"Brat…"

"Manda, leave us," Sasuke said icily.

The giant serpent was only too happy to oblige.

"Katsuyu," Sakura whispered. "Thank you."

And with another burst of smoke, the slug queen was gone as well.

"Well, dear," Sasuke said sarcastically, "now it's just you and me."

He pressed the kunai harder against her throat, but she did not cry out. There was a stony hardness in her green eyes, a glare that he had only thought himself capable of giving. He did not glare back.

Sasuke stuffed the kunai back into his pouch but did not release Sakura. He chuckled to himself as he saw her puzzled expression. "I never thought I'd see the day when Haruno Sakura called me an idiot."

"I never thought I'd see the day when Uchiha Sasuke became one."

He slapped her hard, leaving a long red mark across her pale cheek. "You seem to have forgotten who's in control of your life at the moment."

She smiled at this.

"You have always been in control, Sasuke." With every ounce of strength that she had left, she raised her hand and placed it on his, which was squeezing her shoulder more tightly with each passing second. A strange sensation ran up his arm, and a for a moment, he remembered who was beneath him.

_The little girl whom I always protected…but she does not want that now…_

"What _do_ you want, Sakura?" he asked. He sounded old and weary, aged beyond his years by murder, betrayal, and power. "What did you hope to accomplish by coming here today?"

"I hoped to find Itachi and kill him," she said simply, her delicate fingers stroking the back of his hand, hoping to get some reaction out of him. Nothing came.

"It was my mission," she explained, her voice fading rapidly as blood continued to poor out of her wounds. "But instead, I found you. I found something I had hoped I would never meet."

"Hope seems to have a knack for failing you, Sakura."

"Is that why you've given up on yourself? Is that why you've given up on your family back in Konoha—"

"I have no family."

"Yes, you do!" she exploded, violently coughing. "How many times do I have to drill it through your thick skull? We. Care. About. You. Get it?"

"Your care is misplaced. The person you want to walk through the gates of Konoha with you no longer exists. He no longer can. I have given up on him."

"Coward."

The kunai was back, digging into her flesh, and his eyes met hers. Fire burned within their crimson depths.

"I dare you to say that again."

"Coward," she repeated carelessly.

The hand that held the weapon quivered, and the hand covered by Sakura's shook.

"Kill me," Sakura whispered, beckoned, teased. "Because isn't that the easiest thing to do?"

Sunlight glinted off the kunai as it rose high, came arcing down, and…

XXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXX

_Stop._

_Stop this madness._

_Stop the hatred, stop the bloodthirst, and gain control._

_Stop throwing everything away._

_Stop hurting._

_Stop leaving a trail of corpses behind you, and leave a trail of laughter._

_Give your power to the world._

_You are capable of great things._

_Show them._

_Show them this is not you._

_Show them._

_Show her._

_Become the person you were meant to be._

_This…_

_This is true strength._

_It is within your grasp._

_It is there for the taking._

_Grab hold._

XXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXX

…and was gone, hurled at a tree, as far away as he could possibly get it without letting go of her.

Strength. It was here in front of him, lying on the ground, bleeding, wasting away.

Dying.

_Sakura…_

He channeled his chakra through her, warmth washing over him as her body began to glow a soft green. It felt so wonderful…he had not been truly warm in such a long time…

"Sasuke…kun…"

Her eyelids fluttered open, her dark eyelashes parting, and emerald met not scarlet, but onyx.

The demon was gone. Above her was a man, the man who had always held half of her heart in his hand, the man who was now healing it…

Making it whole again.

A tear fell on her chin, and she realized it was not her own.

"Why…" she asked, a calloused finger reaching up to wipe it away.

Sasuke held her chin firmly, and his lips curled into something she had never seen on his face.

A real smile.

"Because," he said slowly, as though forming the words was difficult for him, "what I have spent my life searching for, what I traveled to hell to get, what I traded my body and my mind to possess, is right in front of me."

A terrible pain was in his eyes, and she wanted nothing more than to take it from him, to take the broken body of the man before her and sew the pieces back together.

If only she had the strength…

"You…are the strongest person I have ever met," he said, "and I am so lucky that in the end, I finally found you."

His fingers curled around hers so tightly that nothing but death itself could make him let go.

"Take my body, Sakura, and make me whole again. Make me alive again.

"_Please."_

That was all she needed.

Their faces moved closer together…

Their lips touched…

And their world exploded.

**------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------**

**Review, please!**


	9. Never

**A/N:** **Ach. I am so, so sorry that this took so long to get out. But…here it is. Please don't shoot me.**

**I _did_ have it done on Monday, I swear. Unfortunately, the lovely Internet decided that it didn't want to upload it that day. Or Tuesday. Or Wednesday. Apparently, I finally fixed the problem. I don't know what I did, but thank God it worked.**

**Thank you, thank you, thank you to the following people.**

**lunch-box-love**

**you.broke.a.promise**

**DarkAngelRakell**

**Nightshadow Dweller**

**Oyuki**

**darkpetaltaki**

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**DazzledEyes**

**Caliginosity **

**Boshoku**

**MyKyo**

**Sirona of Arabia**

**cherrilatina**

**man-chan**

**windii**

**QBOU**

**redcloud xx **

**lilcrazygurl**

**aga11 **

**hopiegranties **

**BEWARE: LEMON AHEAD. If you don't like those kind of things, just don't read it. I think you're a good enough judge of your own maturity level.**

**Disclaimer: Oh, **_**screw**_** you.**

**------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------**

Chapter 9

He tasted like…blood.

Her tongue in his mouth picked up the salty taste, and her heart sank. No matter how far gone the demon was, no matter how much he repented, no matter how many lives he saved to make up for the ones he had destroyed, the blood would always stain the pages of his past. He would always be an avenger, always a fighter, always preferring a kunai to a kind word. It was what he was, and as many times as he washed his hands, the bloodstains would never be removed.

But maybe, just maybe, she could kiss the memory away.

She fisted a hand in his ebony locks (so soft, so unlike him) and pulled him closer, his arms moving around her waste entirely, it seemed, of their own volition.

He did not know what he was doing. He had never done anything like this before. But with each passing second, more of the veil was lifted. As Sakura deepened the kiss, he felt a wave of light wash over him, and he melted into the curves of her body.

How could something so simple feel so…wonderful?

He wanted to stay like this forever.

He pressed her gently against him, being careful to avoid hurting her more. His chakra was helping; he could see the wounds beginning to close, but he was no medic.

"Sakura…" he whispered.

She placed a finger across his lips, to which he planted a gossamer kiss. "Shh. I'm fine. No, I'm better than fine. I'm amazing." She slid a hand up under his shirt, tracing the lines of his chest with fingers as light as butterfly kisses, eliciting a small moan from him. "_You're_ amazing."

"You make me feel amazing," he said, caressing her cheek lovingly. "I don't deserve this. I don't deserve any of this."

"No, you don't," Sakura agreed rather bluntly, causing the Uchiha to release her lips and draw back quickly. She laughed and hugged him tighter. "But you will. I know you will. Because there is good in you. There is joy, kindness, pleasure…"

Sasuke smirked his infamous smirk. "Hn. About that."

He released her just long enough to remove his shirt, tossing it away with a flick of his wrist. Smirk growing wider, he watched her eyes travel up and down his torso, drinking in his body.

He was beautiful.

"Make me feel," he murmured against her lips. "Please, make me feel."

She ran her hand down his finely sculpted chest and down his abs, stopping to stroke each one.

"If you'll let me," she whispered.

And he claimed her lips again, smashing himself against her in a frenzy of heated passion. His arms were around her, hers around him, and they were one, one entity who had suffered, grieved, and died only to find life again in each other.

"I need…" he growled huskily in her ear.

She guided his hand to the waistband of her skirt and met his gaze, his eyes no longer the dark, cold stones she knew so well. "I know."

He ripped her skirt and shorts from her body, tearing them away as though they were wrapping paper on a long-awaited gift. This was wrong, he knew…they were both too young; they had jobs, lives, no time for consequences…

"_Sasuke-kun! Suppertime!"_

"_When I'm back from my mission, I'll show you how to throw shuriken like I do, eh, little brother?"_

"_To learn this jutsu, Sasuke, is to learn the power of the Uchiha clan…"_

"_I love you with all my heart!"_

"_Sasuke-kun…"_

"_Sasuke-kun…"_

"_Sasuke-kun…"_

And the choice was before him: love, lust, love, lust…

_This is what it is like to feel. This is what it is like to be complete. _

_This is love._

And he undid his belt, lowered his pants and boxers, removed her panties with a quick tug, and thrust inside her.

A small yelp from Sakura brought him out of his reverie, and as he saw her bite her lower lip in pain, realization dawned.

"You…saved yourself for me?"

"Of course I did, you stupid man," Sakura grumbled, but it was a tender grumble. "How many times do I have to drill it through your thick skull that however much I want to get rid of you, you won't get out of my head?"

He leaned down and smirked as her blush spread. "Do you really want me out?"

Sakura punched him lightly in the ribs. "Self-centered, egotistical, arrogant," her voice dropped, "wonderful…"

"Wonderful?" Sasuke asked. "Wonderful?" He held her tightly against him, their noses touching as he looked her deep in the eyes, almost as though he were staring into her soul.

"Sakura, when will you learn that I'm not good for you?"

"Maybe you're not," she admitted. "Maybe this is all a mistake. But something tells me…something tells me it's all right. Something tells me this was meant to be. Because right here, with you, I am feeling more than I have ever felt in my entire life. In your arms, I feel safe, trusted, _loved_. And that…is all I have ever wanted."

She gripped his hips, forcing more of him inside her. "Please."

He pulled out of her slightly and slid back in, causing her to let out a long, strangled moan. He felt her tighten around him, and shocks of pleasure ran through his entire body. This was something new. It was strange, yes: he was lying naked on top of a woman he hadn't seen in two years and they were making love (a word he had never liked to associate himself with), but still…

_Wonderful_.

And he moved again, and she whimpered, and they began a walk to the edge of a cliff, their hands clasped tightly together. The air around them was vibrant, alive, pulsing as they made their way along a path that for once, neither of them would have to travel alone. They were close, so close, and she tumbled off the edge, and he followed, and white lights exploded all around them as they hit the bottom together, screaming each others' names as a bond was forged that could never, ever be broken.

They lay together, the field completely silent aside from their short, clipped breaths as sweat poured off their bodies. Sasuke placed a chaste kiss on his lover's temple.

"I feel…_alive._"

Sakura's fingers danced down his spine. "And I feel...at peace. For the first time in five years, I feel at peace."

He looked at her.

"I'll fail you," he said. "I'll let you down. I'll hurt you and hurt you and I'll never learn. I'll fall down and not get back up. Sometimes I'll drag you with me. I'll mess up and I'll leave loose ends and I'll never be good enough and I'll…"

"Sasuke."

She gripped his chin tightly, forcing him to keep eye contact. He saw in her jade irises a fire, a fire greater than any an Uchiha had ever created, and he knew, then and there, that she would be his rock in the storm, and however long he may be gone, whatever troubles he might run into, he would always have a place to make port.

Sakura—small, weak, fragile Sakura—was a woman, and he?

"Sakura…"

"Stop. Stop. Someday, you'll find what I see in you. You'll find that you are no screw-up, no demon, no failure. You're a human being, a person with love locked away inside him, a person with the power to do so much good…or so much evil. The choice has always been there, and you have chosen before…but now, it's time to pick your final card and decide once and for all whether Uchiha Sasuke will be remembered as a monster…or as a man."

He smiled.

He was not alone.

Never alone.

Never again.

Never again to walk the world as a devil.

Never again to die by his own hands.

Never again to lose the love he had found.

"Sakura…

"Let's go home."

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**Short, I know, and I apologize for that. But it needed to end there. I'm thinking there will probably be two more chapters, maybe three, before this is finished.**

**Tralala. I'm off to molest Pein now (new favorite character…besides my lovely Uchiha, that is). And you? Where are you going?**

**(Hint, hint…the review screen.)**


	10. Beautiful

**A/N: Hello, dears. Apologies for the late update. I have been kidnapped by a mysterious creature called Life. Escape is futile.**

**In other news, Blue has a name! HA! Finally!**

**Ahem.**

**Thank yous for last chapter go to:**

**C.A.M.E.O.1 and Only**

**you.broke.a.promise.**

**Oyuki**

**DarkAngelRakell**

**les-liaisons-dangereuses **

**darkpetaltaki**

**Boshoku**

**InsaneHappiness**

**BurningTheMidnightOil**

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**cubanitaalaloco**

**Nightshadow Dweller (for adding BV to her C2…thank you!)**

**Disclaimer: Naruto. Is. Not. Mine. (Oh, the pain!)**

**------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------**

Chapter 10

"So, the dobe's Hokage?"

Sakura sighed. "You two will never grow up, will you?"

The sunlight filtering through the trees was dim as the two shinobi made their way back to Konoha, the bodies of their fallen comrades slung over their shoulders. One of Sasuke's hands had a firm grip on his former sensei's limp wrist. The other had a firm grip on Sakura's.

"Sasuke, a normal man would hold a girl's hand, not drag her along like a dog."

"Hn," Sasuke grunted, but he let his fingers curl gently around Sakura's palm, almost as though he were afraid that he would blemish her soft skin. She was so pure, so…delicate, though she would probably put a kunai through his stomach if he said so. She shone with an outward radiance that couldn't help but make him smile, and he…he smoldered with darkness.

She elbowed him in the side. "What did I say about brooding?"

He shook his head, his dark bangs falling across his eyes. "Sorry. It's just…"

She laid Shikamaru on the ground, his breathing raspy but finally steady, and turned to meet the gaze of the man she loved. "What's wrong?"

Kakashi joined Shikamaru, the large wound in his torso having been mostly healed by Sakura. Sasuke put his arms around the pink-haired kunoichi and felt her nearly collapse against him. She was exhausted, and yet she still pushed herself beyond her limit.

She truly was amazing.

"I'm not worthy," he said slowly. "I…you…you're beautiful. And I'm…"

"Oh, Sasuke," Sakura murmured, letting her fingers lightly dance over his back, causing him to shudder. "You're young. You have so much of your life left to live, and I have confidence that you'll live it in a way that will make the genin look up and say, 'Uchiha Sasuke. That's who I want to be.'"

"Yeah, a mental screw-up and a social reject…"

"Stop it."

Her words cut harshly across the warm midsummer air.

"What?"

"Stop it," she repeated. "Stop thinking so lowly of yourself. I don't care what you may have once been. What matters to me is what you are now. And standing before me isn't a monster, a killer, or that boy who used to shove me out of the way. Standing before me is a man, a man with a great and terrible power that maybe, just maybe, he finally knows how to use. Standing before me is a wonderful ninja, a wonderful friend, and, someday, a wonderful father."

Sasuke's eyes widened. "Sakura…"

"You have a choice as to what type of person you want to be, Sasuke. Everything is up to you. Today marks a new beginning, a new decision that you've made. You've taken something evil and have started to mold it into something good, something beautiful. And no matter how terrible you think you are, as long as you keep molding, I'll always be around to prove you wrong…oomph!"

He held her tightly against him, nearly every inch of their bodies touching, and he tilted his forehead to meet hers.

"Sakura…thank you."

And he covered her lips with his own, pouring into the kiss sweetness and passion he did not know he possessed. She responded instantly, her fingers leaving his shoulders and entangling themselves in his black tresses. Sasuke leaned into her, deepening the kiss as he nibbled at her lip. Smiling to herself, she gave him the entrance he longed for, and their tongues began a dance for dominance as his hands rubbed up and down her back, reveling in the feeling of her body against his.

They were both so completely captured in the world of the kiss that they did not notice when a very angry presence approached, her hands planted firmly on her hips as she spat out Sakura's name.

"Haruno!"

XXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXX

_Note to self: do not place sharp objects in any place where they could potentially be fallen upon._

Naruto groaned as he stood, trying to ignore the pain in his leg. Having been caught in Sasuke's genjutsu while he was running, the release left him in the absence of something crucial: balance. And so he had toppled to the ground, tripped over a box of weapons he had left in his living room, and made an unpleasant acquaintance with a shuriken or two.

_Damnit. I'm getting blood on the carpet. Hinata-chan's gonna kill me…_

"Naruto-kun! What's going on? What was that genjutsu? And why are you limping…Uzumaki Naruto, is that BLOOD on my WHITE carpet?"

Some of Naruto's energy seemed to have permanently rubbed off on Hinata when he married her. He had never imagined beforehand that the timid, shy Hyuuga could be such a spitfire.

"Erm…"

"I bring company home for dinner and I find you standing there like an idiot while blood is continuing to drip onto the _new_ carpet that was not inexpensive, Mr. I-Get-Free-Ramen-At-Ichiraku's-Now-That-I'm-Hokage-And-Therefore-Don't-Think-About-Money-At-All, and it's obvious that this is all your own stupid fault since _you_ left that box there in the first place when I told you five times to put it away, and…ugh, just go clean yourself up!"

"Yes, Hinata-chan!" Naruto said, nodding his head so quickly that he resembled a bobble-head doll, and he made a mad dash for the bathroom.

"Dude, doesn't he owe you make-up sex now or something?" Kiba chuckled, following Hinata into the apartment.

"Shut up, Inuzuka, before I stick one of those shuriken in you," Hinata growled (which a year ago Kiba would never have imagined her doing). "Make yourself useful and pick up the mess while I get the soup started."

Kiba laughed to himself as Hinata disappeared into the kitchen and the bathroom door creaked open, a terrified Naruto peeking his head out.

"Is it safe?" he whispered.

Kiba nodded, and Naruto joined him on the floor with stain remover and several towels.

"Man, she's got you whipped," Kiba said.

Naruto punched Kiba in the ribs and went back to cleaning.

XXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXX

Sakura and Sasuke sprung apart, their bodies immediately going into fighting stances.

"Wow, Ugly. Somebody who actually likes you."

Sasuke was in front of Sai in a flash, the collar of the ANBU's shirt clenched tightly in his fist. "Call her ugly again and I'll…"

Suddenly, Tsunade was between them, her glare deadly. "You'll do nothing, Uchiha, until I get an explanation out of both of you."

"Tsunade-shisou…"

"Quiet, Haruno!" the sannin snapped. "I dragged myself through this godforsaken forest with this imbecile in order to save your sorry ass only to find you _making out_ with an S-class missing nin that you've been in love with for ten years! And then he is actually _defensive_ of you! I want some answers, Haruno, and they had better involve Uchiha babymaking!"

"Tsunade!"

"Yamato, say another word and I will…"

"…stab a kunai through my throat and then heal the wound with the kunai still in?"

"Hmm. Creative. I like it. Yes, Yamato, say another word and I will…do whatever you just said. Is that clear?"

"Yes, Tsunade-sama."

"_This_ is your mentor, Sakura?" Sasuke asked in disbelief.

"Honestly, she's usually not this bad," Sakura assured him.

Tsunade tapped her foot impatiently. "Answers, Haruno. _Now._"

"Well…"

"I killed Itachi," Sasuke cut in, "and I lost control. The cursed seal consumed me, took my feelings of hatred and made them envelop me in a rage I thought I could never get out of. I did horrible things; I almost killed three of your shinobi. I would've gone through with it, too, if Sakura hadn't stopped me with her words. She made me realize that I wasn't living. She made me realize that I had a decision to make: the lust for power or the love that she and so many others in Konoha have shown me. I have made my decision. I am coming back with her. I…am done with this madness. It is time to restore the Uchiha name to its rightful place of honor. It is time to feel alive again. And I would never have stepped over this threshold had it not been for Sakura. You have a lot to thank her for."

"Sasuke-kun…"

"I…I love her."

Sakura gasped. For Sasuke to say that, to utter that word that he had worked so hard to separate himself from completely, and to apply it to _her_…

She pinched herself. It hurt.

This was not a dream.

"Sasuke," she breathed, and she was in his arms, sobbing against his chest as he stroked her hair.

"What's wrong?" he asked gently.

"Nothing," she said, his hands coming up to wipe the tears off of her cheeks. "Nothing is wrong. Everything is…beautiful."

He smiled and brushed his lips on her forehead. "Hn."

Kakashi cracked an eyelid open, the grin spreading across his face evident even with his mask on.

"It's about time."

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**Hinata may be OOC, but I like to think she has a tougher side. Not to mention it's adorable to see Naruto get his butt handed to him by a girl.**

**At long last, **_**Black Veil**_** is almost finished. The next chapter will be the last...**

**Or will it?**


	11. Change

**A/N: Ugh.**

**Time is not my friend. Not at all.**

**Thank you for being so patient. Now here, finally, is the last chapter of **_**Black Veil**_

**And since you've been asking: I **_**am**_** planning a sequel. It'll be called **_**Red Clouds**_** (yes, I do have a thing for colors attached to inanimate objects), and the first chapter should be out before Monday.**

**Cyber cookies go to the following people:**

**Some Scribbles, Little-Sayu-Chan, roxnroll, you.broke.a.promise, Stephanie, InsaneHappiness, Boshoku, Nefarian, DarkAngelRakell, darkpetaltaki, Nightshadow Dweller, C.A.M.E.O.1 and Only, benswife, -Riou-chan-, AnimeMangaLover4ever, MaruMaru-chan, Wyld Stallyns, blossompetals, kaleihoku92, kunoichikeiko13, shikatemaxtemashika, Angel Blossoms, DarkVampireAngel, Gaara's Cherry Blossom, Lady Kunoichi, Mischieviant, Senna nobody, SweetKisses9, and UnderTheSky-xxo**

**Disclaimer: I don't own Naruto, I don't make any money off of this, and I desperately need a life.**

**------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------**

Chapter 11

"Teme."

"Teme."

"Temeeeeeeeeee…"

"Shut up, dobe."

"Teme, guess what?"

"I don't care."

"I'm Hokage now."

"No really."

"That means you have to do what I say."

"Hn."

"Go buy me some ramen."

"Go die."

"Sasuke!"

The Uchiha gingerly rubbed the back of his head where his girlfriend had slapped him. "Keep your strength in check, Sakura."

Sakura harrumphed and tapped her foot impatiently. "Keep your mouth in check, and maybe I will. Where _is_ Sai? I told him to be here thirty minutes ago. Kami, he's beginning to act like Kakashi."

"Well, maybe if you would stop comparing him to _me_, he wouldn't feel the need to imitate the pervert," Sasuke grumbled, trying to hide the fact that he was, in fact, very anxious to meet this Sai person.

Sai. His _replacement_. Sai, who had spent four years with Sakura while he had been off on a hopeless quest for revenge. Sai, who supposedly looked so much like him.

Sai, who, for four years, had _been_ him.

"Sasuke-kun, you're brooding again," Sakura grumbled, poking him in the side.

"Ouch, Sakura. You know I'm ticklish there."

Sasuke didn't like the devilish gleam in her eye…or in Naruto's.

"Don't you dare..."

And his teammates fell upon him, tickling him until he could barely breathe.

"Good to have you back, Sasuke-teme," Naruto chuckled as Sasuke hit him over the head, sending him sprawling on the ground in a fit of laughter.

No one noticed the dark eyes watching them from the bushes.

XXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXX

"Things won't go back to the way they were before."

Genma turned sharply to look at his companion. Kakashi's face, however, remained blank.

"Why do you say that?"

Kakashi kicked a pebble into the stream, watching the ripples spread out from the point of impact, and sighed. "Sasuke's departure was like that pebble. It set so much in motion. Because of it, Sakura and Naruto grew. They became so much more than anyone had imagined. Slowly, but definitely, they were able to piece their existence back together, make sense of it without him in the equation. And, I believe, finally, they were happy.

"But Sasuke has a strange power. Wherever he goes, he leaves a whirlwind behind him. His is a path of chaos, and those whose lives are intertwined with his cannot escape that fact. Soon, we will begin to see the ripples his return causes. And I am worried…just how many newly repaired lives they will disrupt."

A cold gust of wind hit the two jounin, but neither slowed their strides.

"It's a formidable road to choose, being a shinobi," Genma commented. "So much death…destruction…pain…it's a wonder we don't all end up insane."

"Oh, we do," Kakashi contradicted. "Only some of us are better at hiding it."

Genma nodded. "The clouds are moving quickly. The weather's changing."

"For the better, or for the worse?"

"I can't say." He quickened his pace ever so slightly, twirling a kunai absentmindedly around one finger. "But whatever happens, we have to live for the here and now and, between the strength of our friends and our own determination, maybe, just maybe, we'll be here for tomorrow. Eh, Kakashi?"

Overhead, a brilliant ray of sunlight peeked out from behind the clouds.

The silver-haired jounin's eye crinkled, and Genma thought he could see a hint of a smile behind Kakashi's mask.

"Everything will be all right," he said. "Everything will be all right."

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"Pein."

The Akatsuki leader looked up from his stack of papers—contracts, payments, death sentences he was only too pleased to sign—and met her eyes.

"I take it all went as planned, then, Konan?"

She nodded. "Down to the last detail."

Pein fingered his earrings, an action she knew to mean that he was immensely pleased with himself. "Excellent. Let Madara know, and tell _him_ to see me when he arrives."

"Of course," Konan replied, and she was gone.

Pein turned, his eyes focused not on the work before him but on the rain, pitter-pattering ominously against the doors to his balcony. His gaze never faltering, he stood and walked to them, throwing them open as lightning cracked across the sky.

_Soon,_ he thought. _Very soon…we shall see true power._

He closed his eyes and opened them again to reveal the Rin'negan, spiraling madly as they met the Mangekyou Sharingan of the only man who would dare to look him in the eye.

Uchiha Madara.

"Come, Pein," he said, his lips curling into a smile. "We have much to do."

XXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXX

Nothing stirred.

The grass, still stained crimson, was motionless as thunder rumbled in the distance. No breezes whispered gently against the leaves of the trees. Even the animals lay quietly in their burrows, none daring to break the foreboding aura beginning to settle down over the ground.

In the northeast corner of the field, just as the grasses ended and the forest began, a drop of water fell.

_Plop._

Scarlet ripples traveled across the ever-spreading pool of blood, painting the earth in dark shades of pain and sorrow. Passersby would never be able to explain what kept the blood moving, never slowing, never stopping.

For there was no body.

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**Muahahaha. Wait patiently, dears. Wait patiently.**

**(Oh, and review to pass the time.)**


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